Treating teens tactfully

Providing medical care for young adults is both demanding and rewarding. Young adults are past the age when congenital defects are lethal or crippling and not yet at the stage where degenerative diseases are clinically significant. Tact, discretion, empathy and humour are necessary to deal with the issues of autonomy, sexuality, urgency and immediacy, privacy and confidentiality, and the inappropriate use of health-care resources which accompany young adults' health-care needs. The rewards are the opportunities to practise preventive medicine and exert a beneficial influence on the lifestyles of young people who are going to be society's leaders of the future.